3SIXTY5 #13 Hens in Hats

The art for Monday, April 19 is another digital collage, because the time crunch has bitten me in the ass big time, as we sometimes say here in the 'burgh. My grandparents kept chickens in the back yard (I lived with them until I was 14) and I've always wanted to have chickens again. They would certainly keep the pill bugs under control in the garden. However, for now it's a pipe dream. If I scarcely have time to meet my collage-a-day goals, how could chickens possibly help?? Even in sun hats.

3SIXTY5 #12: Ancient Seas_041810

A digital collage made on Polyvore. I love being on the water, something I don't get to do much these days. The town where I currently live is on the banks of the Allegheny, so I see the river every time I drive anywhere, and it is beautiful and compelling! But I last saw the ocean almost a year ago, when I visited Coney Island, not for the rides, just for the water.

3SIXTY5 #11: Garden Dreaming

Please accept my apologies for the awful image. The original is too big for my scanner, so I did what I could with the hand held digital camera. My son is going to help me set up a copy stand with a tripod (of which I have several, from the old days of taking portfolio shots with the 35mm camera) so I can avoid bulgy, distorted pictures like the this. Later I will replace this image with a better one.

I call this collage Garden Dreaming, because that's about all I'll be doing garden-wise this year! What's cool is that all the flowers in the piece (and even the swallowtail butterfly) were cut from photos I took of my own garden over the years. The view through the gothic window is the actual view through my bathroom window. I added the gothic window frame, which, alas, my bathroom does not have. The Botticelli angels have yet to appear in my garden, but I keep hoping.

Tonight I attended a performance of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater's Swan Lake, and got to see my ballet assemblage box with the other works in the exhibit. It's amazing the spectrum of ideas and interpretations that the artists came up with for transforming pointe shoes into works of art.

3SIXTY5 #10: A Song for Virginia

This is yesterday's collage. The past few installments, I've been working them so late I'm too tired to post the same night. I'll get back on track tonight.

Virginia Woolf is one of those writers whose life was as interesting as her work. The whole Bloomsbury group, and their era, are fascinating. I find that collage and assemblage boxes are ideal for creating art homages, because of the endless variety of materials and juxtapositions available. This piece actually did not start out being about Virginia, so there is really no point to the German book page that is the base of it. Thanks for looking!

3SIXTY5 #9 "A Bride for Max Ernst"

This was last night's collage (4/15/10)

"The River in April"--Always a rough ride

Tonight's installment in 3SIXTY5 is dedicated to the IRS, and its thorny cohorts in our State and municipal governments. I hope to have so considerably increased my income by this time next year, via my Etsy store, that I will need to hire a tax professional. Let someone else ride that annual tossing, stormy river of anxiety!

A Swan Lake for Joseph Cornell

My Facebook friends wanted to see a photo of the assemblage box I made for this weekend's Pittsburgh Ballet Theater fund raiser, but for some reason it wouldn't upload on FB. Here it is:

This photo was taken before the piece was put behind glass, thus there is no top on it yet. It measures approx. 13 x 16 x 5 inches. PBT provided each artist with a pair toe-shoes from which to creat their art, preferably with a Swan Lake theme. It was cool just to see real pointe shoes up close! The shoe in the lower portion of the box represents the Odile, the Black Swan. I wish I had taken detail shots of that area because you can't see anything in this photo. There are black feathers sprouting out of the shoe. The walls are lined with gold music on black paper.On one side is a tiny photo of an x-ray of a ballerina's foot on pointe, and on the opposite side is a picture of a swan skeleton (you can just see a bit of it, by the heel of the shoe.)

The upper part of the box is lined with music from the score of Swan Lake, and represents Odette, the White Swan as pictured by Tamara Toumanova. The "wings" are wire, gauze and white feathers. The small blue bit is a tiny photo of Joseph Cornell's box, "A Swan Lake for Tamara Toumanova: Homage to the Romantic Ballet," which he made in 1946. Thus I entitled my box to be a homage to Cornell himself.

3SIXTY5 #7, TEMPUS FUGIT

Today's work in my collage-a-day project is aptly named. Still reeling from an all-nighter on Sunday/Monday, here I am up late again. But tonight's work was well-seeded with ideas and insights (unlike my garden, which is packing its bags and getting ready to hitchhike to more attentive grounds. Art takes its toll.) I will briefly share one of those discoveries:  I can adjust the color balance of scans in my digital camera software. Eventually I'll do this sort of task  in Photoshop, but for now, simpler is better. Good night.

Holy smoke, I almost forgot! My ballet piece was juried into the exhibit for Pittsburgh Ballet's Swan Lake performances. Ah, sweet return on efforts! Since I was asked to submit a short bio (2-3 sentences--no kidding), I took the opportunity for some blatant self promotion, including the url for this blog, and for my Etsy store. Yes! Just like a premature baby, I am shocked and delighted to find that my Etsy store has opened in spite of me! Lots of work to get it up and running before the exhibit opens on Friday night. The question now is--how will those taxes get done? Will the IRS accept a collage in lieu of money owed? In my dreams...

Two Immortals: Cornell and Toumanova

I cheated a bit for today's 3SIXTY5 piece. My latest work was an assemblage box, and I offer this detail photo of the central motif in lieu of a collage. Because I stayed up, literally, all night to finish it. Arriving home today after delivering the piece to Pittsburgh Ballet Theater's studios for their 40th Anniversary fund-raising competition, I am no fit state to make a collage (or much of anything else.) The piece is a homage to that ineffably alluring constructor of imaginary worlds, Joseph Cornell.

There is a tiny image of one of his a ballet-inspired works, "Swan Lake for Tamara Toumanova," on the back wall of the box. The ballerina is, of course, Toumanova herself, her photo magically made into an instant souvenir via a download from the internet and sepia monochrome inkjet print. What next??

Ballet is an acquired taste, like so many ritualistic manifestations of a particular culture--masonic rites, opera, Noh theater, even (ugh!) bull fighting. I admit to being enthralled by the ballet, as was Cornell, and another of my heroes, Edward Gorey. So it was delightful to create a ballet-themed box, and I will be thrilled if it is selected for the exhibition. If not--hey, this is the first assemblage piece I've made in like 8 years!! So I am happy to have done it--assemblage boxes are very physical--and I will do more. But first, some SLEEEEP!!

3SIXTY5 #5: St. Theresa in Excelsis

Here is today's collage, #5 in the 3SIXTY5 project, entitled St. Theresa in Excelsis. My take on Bernini's famous Ecstasy of St. Theresa. She may be marble, but she ain't frigid.

The Bad with the Good, and vagaries of scanners & digital cameras

KC Willis once asked why several of us who had signed up for her Marketing Mindset online workshop, were so into Artists Trading Cards, since they couldn't be sold. I've discovered another reason why I like them, along with the online camaraderie of ATC swaps:  they are great practice for working quickly on larger projects, as I realized when I embarked on 3SIXTY5, my collage a day project.

Here is collage #4, entitled "Aboriginal Apollo" (which I was too tired to post last night.) I was playing around with an image printed on translucent vellum. Laid atop a primitive sun motif, the rays and dots on the face made me think of aborigine tattoos. However, on the whole I think the final result is NOT a success! But I ain't gonna do it over, so here it is, garish, blobby mess that it is. Gotta take the bad with the good!

The image above is a digital camera shot, and now that the weather is improving, I will take digipix of my collages instead of scanning them. I have a Canon MP560 printer/scanner/copier, and unfortunately I'm not thrilled with it. I don't expect it to produce the same results as the color laser printers at Kinko's, but I do expect the scanner to work at least as well as others I've had, which it doesn't. One of it's drawbacks, is that you cannot make color adjustments while scanning, you can only lighten, darken, sharpen or blur. Here is how Apollo came out on the scanner (with apologies for having to look at him twice)

The background is brighter than the digipic, but what happened to the orange sun?? I would love to hook up my HP scanner again, but I was told there would be a driver conflict. I wanted an inkjet printer (well, I really want a color laser, but we're talking serious money there!) and it seems you can't get anything nowadays but a multi-tasking machine. So there it is.

3SIXTY5 #3

 This is entitled Snakes in Venice. Original size is 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches. The little image of Venice is a vintage postcard of an unusual size, 1-3/4 x 5-1/2 inches. Here is the back of another:

The background is the marbled endpaper from an old book. The snake was scanned from Seba's Snakes and Lizards by Albertus Seba, published by Dover (the original work was published in 1731 in Amsterdam.) I find that the confluence of all these details are part of the charm of collage. Although I guess snakes aren't intrinsically charming! Be that as it may, I hope you like the work, thanks for looking.

3SIXTY5 #2

The second day into this collage-a-day project, I've realized a couple of things:  1) I will finally acquire some self-discipline; and 2) I've created a monster that will eat this year of my life for dinner (or rather, the bedtime snack that's left after my day-job--only 7.5 hours of which I am actually paid for. Oh yeah, then there are those benefits...)

So, I am 1) grateful to have a job in these lean times and 2) hoping to sh(f)uck it as soon as I can and make art all day long!

Today's collage is entitled "Wings for the Journey."

3SIXTY5 Off and Running, and Confessions of a Polyvore Addict

Today begins my “3SIXTY5” collage-a-day project, in observance of my 60th year. There’s nothing like a new beginning, a new challenge to keep the juices flowing! As an artist who’s always been a slow producer, I know this is going to be interesting. At the end of it, I expect to have kicked a hole right through my procrastination, indecisiveness, hesitations, unidentified quirks, whatever it is that has held me back. I intend to concentrate on paper and glue collage, but a drawing or other art manifestation may appear, if time and inspiration converge. Another goal for 3SIXTY5 is to start on an inventory of work to offer for sale in my Collagitation store—which is not yet opened (did I mention my problem with procrastination, indecisiveness, hesitation?)

Given that my Photoshop knowledge is still rudimentary, I do not expect to produce much digital work for 3SIXTY5, unless it is truly the result of increasing my skills (or an absolute, life constricting, rock-and-a-hard-place convergence of circumstances.)  I confess that all of the digital art I’ve posted here has been made on Polyvore.com, the digital collage site. While I’ve never claimed otherwise, I’ve come to feel that it’s almost “cheating” to post it, due to comments I've gotten that give me credit where none is due. The design of the PV pieces is certainly my own, but the Polyvore Editor makes it sooo easy to produce beautiful effects, that these works do not accurately reflect my digital art abilities. Thus, I offer my apologies if I’ve caused confusion, or even inadvertently deceived anyone, regarding my digital art skills (and calligraphy skills; there is none of my own calligraphy in the “M” collage, for instance. But within the next few days I’ll upload some of my calligraphic work to Flickr, so you can see what I can do in that area.) I got hooked on PV as a way to quickly create work for Theme Thursday, my favorite of the many fun weekly art challenge sites on the web. I adore Polyvore, but I feel it’s become too much of a crutch--maybe I should start a Polyvore Anonymous group?

And let this mile-stone day not pass, without my expressing how touched and grateful I am for all of the kind wishes, FaceBook greetings from extended family and friends, and work-place observances of my 60th birthday--not to mention the company of those I hold dearest:  my Mother, as well as my wonderful daughter and son, and my awesome son-in-law, who journeyed to the 'burgh to be with me for this occasion. Who needs riches when I am so blessed with loving friends and family?  I am truly touched and grateful to you all!!

My maiden work for the 3SIXTY5 voyage is called "60 Is Nothing," which kind of expresses my take on my BIG 6-0 Birthday! It incorporates both authentic vintage bits and recreated bits (ie, downloaded/printed out.)  I hope you like it, feel free to comment, and thanks for visiting during my momentous evening!!

Wishing you a happy Easter!

Easter is the only holiday in the christian calendar, where they forgot to change the pagan reference when they booted out the old gods and took it over. It's name still bears homage to the goddess, Oestre. She was, of course, a fertility goddess, hence all the rabbits and eggs. Be that as it may, I wish a happy Easter to all my friends of every persuasion!

Theme Thursday Challenge: Mmmmm....

This week's Theme Thursday challenge is to do a piece about a specific letter(s) of the alphabet. (Yes, this week I read all the directions.) As a calligrapher, I love all letters! Though some are very tempermental, S, for instance. Y can be a terror sometimes too. But one of my favorites is M, and one of my favorite calligraphy exercises is making italic M necklaces. This consists of writing the lower case alphabet with an m between each letter, to develop rhythm and flow and beautiful, consistent arches. So here is my artwork dedicated to the always friendly letter M.

Theme Thursday Challenge: Beauty

Timeless Beauty by diakea on Polyvore.com

How could you go wrong with such a theme? Here's my digital collage, "Timeless Beauty."  The lovely lady is from Paperwhimsy.  I made this tonight in lieu of redding up my basement workspace (still quite chilly down there in late March), because I was just too tired! Tomorrow is another day...where have I heard that before?

Pour epater les bourgoisie

Since Collagitation includes agitation, here is a little something to stir things up, made on Polyvore for Theme Thursday's "Masculine" challenge. Rated "P" for "Play." Sports, science, guns, booze...what more could a guy ask for?

Science and Soccer by diakea

Having invented the word “Collagitation” as the name for my current artistic endeavor, this Saturday morning I gave some thought to what meanings that word holds for me, and what guides to my artistic direction I could find in it.

This came out of working on my real Collagitation Blog header (under construction.) The woman’s face, above, is my own version of an image widely used in contemporary altered art. In fact, she has a collagitation pedigree! The original face (said to be based Edwardian-era opera singer Lina Cavalieri) inspired the great designer Piero Fornasetti to create his “Tema e Variazioni” collection of hundreds of ceramic plates, each adorned with a variation of the original face. I’m using my variation of her partly in homage to Fornasetti, whose work I love. Just for fun, I added that little thought balloon in response to the somewhat puzzled expression I gave her. I don’t know if it will appear in the final product, but it got me thinking about—what is Collagitation, anyway?

Semantically, Collagitation is a portmanteau of “collage” and “cogitation” (with some “agitation” occasionally thrown in.) All of which reflects my love of words, if nothing else! When I try to write I often have to avoid sounding pompous or like a 19th c treatise, because I so love using “big words” and elongated phrases, the results of a life time of continuous broad reading. I also like the idea of an invented word, an absurd word, in the surrealist sense (an oxymoron, yippee!), because of course surrealism is integral to collagitation. Therein lies its simple essence: playing with images, to alter their meanings and associations, as in all classic collage and, currently, altered art. It is fantasy art, but unlike the formal genre of that name, it does not use realistic methods to render imaginary worlds, but rather interjects the fantastic into the “real” world, to amuse, or alarm, and always (hopefully) to offer witty visual food for thought.

There were/are many masters of collagitation from whom to draw inspiration, as well as sheer pleasure from viewing their work. One of my favorites is surrealist Max Ernst, who created the incredible collage novel, Une Semaine de Bonté. Anyone interested in 20th c art is familiar with Ernst, but I am always surprised that Fornasetti is much less well known. I assume this is because he was primarily a designer and so his work is not given the same weight as that of “pure” artists. Go figure. If you are unfamiliar with the work of this modern master, do yourself a favor and visit the official website, http://www.fornasetti.com. You will need to play with the bee on the woman’s face to enter the site, have fun!

Pondering my current work in light of my aspirations for Collagitation, it is clear I need to step things up a bit. Not only in terms of amount of work produced, but especially in the quality. As I continue to refine my signature style and to create work worth offering for sale, I realize that I must go way beyond ATCs and match-box shrines. Also, in working so much recently with these very egalitarian, accessible forms, am I “dumbing down” my work? Or, am I merely following in a style that others have been putting forth for years? Hopefully, if I am being inspired and/or influenced, it is by the best of this type of work (because God knows there’s plenty of abysmal “art” to be seen on the internet), and also creating work that is distinctly “mine,” like the Burning Heart ATC. As for the format, what is the size limit of a piece of real art? That’s a no-brainer!

I think part of this interior discussion (which I am attempting to externalize here) comes out of running into an old acquaintance last night at a Squonk Opera performance. Patricia has been doing cutting-edge and conceptual work for decades, and next Fall she has a show at Pittsbugh Center for the Arts, one of the region’s premier art exhibition spaces. Envious? You bet. But also inspired, and happy for her that her career is going so well and she continues to be so productive. And, chatting with her got me thinking more about the direction I want to take my own work. Which is, for now, a store on Etsy. Beyond that…we’ll see.

Obviously, Collagitation is going to require much thought and hard work. Here I am!

Recommended Reading:
Fornasetti: Designer of Dreams by Patrick Mauriés (1991, Little Brown & Co)
Une Semaine de Bonté by Max Ernst (1934; currently available through Dover Publications)

Sing For Spring!

Spring is a week from this coming Sunday! In my yard, the birds are already singing up a storm, and the deer are no doubt eagerly watching for the first tulips to show their heads (annual spring snack.) Here is my visual song for Spring! This was done for Theme Thursday's Spring challenge.

The Mysteries of HTML

Today I decided it was time I spiffed up the blog a bit. I found some nice backgrounds on hotbliggityblog.com, which I figure will do until I can create my own (time to dust off copy of  HTML For Beginners.) Well, I think it looks better than it did, but it certainly doesn't look like the sample on hotbliggityblog. Of course I'm not sure why.

I've read that one way to keep your mind sharp as you age is to be continuously learning new things. So I should be in pretty good shape by the time I'm in my 80s!

ART Forever #2

I thought maybe the text in the first "Art forever" piece needed a bit more punch. Here's another version...

ART Forever by diakea on Polyvore.com

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis

ART Forever by diakea on Polyvore.com

A Weekend in Photoshop Hell

For many weeks now, I have been attempting to execute a banner for my soon-to-be-opened Collagitation shop on Etsy. This weekend would’ve gone a lot better had I spent those weeks intensively learning Photoshop! In fact, I’ve been puttering around with PS for a several years, and shame on me for admitting that in all that time, I’ve never worked with it systematically or gotten beyond 1% of the basics. Then just last week, Community College of Allegheny County’s adult ed dept. informed me that the PS class I’d signed up for was again cancelled—for the 3rd year in a row! (Do they keep offering it just to taunt me???)


In light of this, I finally realized last night that if I can’t get the banner to look the way I want due to my digital art limitations, for crying out loud, simplify the blasted design for now and get on with it! But no, I spent the better part of 2 precious days trying this, trying that, furiously googling every PS tutorial on the web (or so it seemed) vainly attempting yet again to make sense of Adobe’s own manual… I even blush to say it, but I started fiddling around in MS Paint, for crying out loud, until I realized it would take me months to get anywhere. *SIGH* I remember someone saying once that all artists have at least a little OCD in their personalities. This weekend proved it for me.


So I am taking my own belated advice and doing a simpler banner the old fashioned, scissors and glue method, and scanning it in. Unless…maybe…maybe if I find a simpler digital solution, right?? Where’s my mouse---! Noooooooooo!!!

Oh what fun!!

Here is my Theme Thursday piece for this week's challenge, "Flourishes." It is a tribute to the one and only Maria Callas, the greatest diva of the 20th C. (And that's saying something!)

I had intended to do a flourish piece that I would also be used for an ATC swap about birds. However, I discovered an amazing site that allows you to play, online, with a veritably limitless sea of images! It's called Polyvore, and it is designed for fashionistas, but I've seen that many people use if for artistic image making. So...today during lunch hour, I produced this work.

Check out Polyvore, but beware--it's addictive!!

Sick cat = day off

(Above:  Rainbow lounging on the patio)

I wanted to do this blog as a way to record my journey of becoming a full-time, working artist, rather than to write about my life in general (not a topic of great interest to anyone but me and my near and dear.) Of course, the two are inseparable--if I have a fight with my mother, or have a bad day at work, or something happens with my adult son (who has the roommate from hell), I get knocked off kilter. But my art is always there for me, no matter what—and that is a fantastic feeling!! Even if I can’t work, organizing my collage files or putting together images for future pieces can take the edge off anxiety or anger.

On Monday morning of this week, I brought my mother home from an early dental appointment to find my cat seriously ill. (He’s all right now, thank goodness, but he really had us scared for awhile!) I ran him to the vet’s, where he had to stay while they figured out what was wrong and began treatment. I decided to take the rest of the day off my job (they are wonderful people, so I can always deal with emergencies) and while anxiously awaiting news of Rainbow, I went to my work table and indulged in serious art therapy.

I try to combine projects whenever possible, so I plan to use my piece from Theme Thursday’s “Girls” art challenge to offer for sale on Etsy and/or use for a printable image on Café Press. Naturally I wanted the piece to be really, really nice! It was a great way to distract myself, but I realized I was working with a sort of desperation, trying not to think the worst for my poor kitty.

Awhile later I was told that Rainbow, who has been on insulin since about last spring, was in hypoglycemic shock with a blood glucose level of 30, devastating for a small animal. It seems that cats can “get over” diabetes, unlike dogs and humans, and start producing their own insulin again, so that day his morning insulin shot nearly killed him! He was coming around with a glucose IV, but they wanted to keep him overnight for observation and would phone if there was anything to report.

So I worked and waited for possible phone calls from the vet's (none came--which was a relief, although the fearful anticipation was relentless) and I ended up working until around 12:30 AM because there was no way I could sleep. I was in a truly strange state regarding my artwork; it was as if my usual days' or weeks' worth of putzing, trying alternatives, tweaking, fiddling, etc, that I usually go through, became compressed, sped up, tossed into a time warp of frantic productivity, and I found that I produced a creditable piece of work in way less time than I would've thought possible even a week ago.

So I posted the “Best Friends Forever” piece here on my blog (SEE previous post) and went to bed.

Rainbow came home the next morning (more time off work, I used up all my vacation time) and has been getting back to his old self quite nicely. But I was disappointed later in the week because my piece wasn’t acknowledged in any way on Theme Thursday’s site, and the new challenge was already posted. I read the instructions again, and soon found I’d not followed them correctly. If I ain't dyslexic, I should be--! I needed to leave a message in their comments box with a link to my blog and artwork. I had merely put a link to TT here on my blog. Doh!! So I posted the link to my work on their site, and today I got a nice comment from one of the TT regulars. (I am such a slut for outside verification of my talent *sigh*)

In the aftermath of all this, I came across a couple of insights. 1) Guilt can hammer you like a pile-driver as you try to outrun it--because I thought I had inadvertently poisoned my cat; and 2) I'll bet I can find that state again that will allow me to tap into this type of energy (without the "frantic" adjective) to move me forward in my self-reinvention from office subservient to "real artist."

*******************************************

Yesterday I started an ATC which I will use for a swap on Art42, as well as post on TT for this week’s challenge (“Flourishes”) There is a wide, wonderful network of artists doing all kinds of art and putting it on the worldwide web--a dozen times over via linking to each others' websites/blogs--and I feel the urge to continue dipping my toes in this stream. I’ve visited many of the links, links from those links, etc., and it is amazing how many talented artists are online, selling their art and also sharing it with a wider community.**  I really feel the need to nurture this kind of contact and develop relationships with fellow online artists, so that this synergy can contribute to my efforts of becoming a full time artist, of which selling on the internet is a huge part. Maybe opportunities to promote/market my work will arise out of this inter-activity, but it is basking in those good vibes circulating so freely and happily that attracts me the most.

**and it also made me realize how much I have to learn about pimping my blog, my site is sooooo BORING. My apologies.

New Art and a Quick Post

I have a lot to write about, but it's been a long, long day (12:36 AM and I have to go to my JOB tomorrow--how aptly named that is *sigh*) But, I'm taking a moment before I crash because I spent most of yesterday and today working on a piece for Theme Thursday. Yes, another site where altered-art groupies can "preach to the choir" instead of marketing their work to potential buyers/collectors. Anyway, I've always greatly admired the talent I see there (see link) and so now--ta-daa!!--I offer my first piece of work inspired by Theme Thursday. This week's theme is "Girls" and I took liberties with a several Old Masters and morphed their august work into some girlie fun and games. This piece was done the old fashioned way--scissors and glue--I hope you like it!

Back to the Future!

Last weekend, I took a look at an ongoing project I haven’t worked on in ages, an altered book that I started in 2007. Well, it came as a revelation, because I realized the book was done in a sort of “proto-signature style.” All the elements mentioned in my previous post are there, mystery, graphic punch, vintage imagery. Plus this work is monochromatic, black, greys and whites, which is a way I love to work and had already decided to resume in the future. You can see the images from the book in the Flickr widget there on the right, click on it to go to the photostream.

In fact, I am thinking I will design a series of images based on the ones in the altered book for Etsy/Café Press, since I already have a visual vocabulary in place, as it were. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish the altered book itself, however! Structurally, it’s a shambles, I truly didn’t know what I was doing. It is built on a real printed book, from which I attempted to remove signatures to allow for the thickness of added materials but didn’t do it very well. Thus, the pages scanned poorly. My favorite spread of women partying on the roof (above) came out badly due to the difference in levels between the facing pages. One side is out of focus, it sits so much lower than the other. The scans also do not show the “mechanics” of pages that are altered with windows and die-cuts, so the fun of actually paging through the book is lost. But regardless of what is “lost,” I have “found” inspiration in my altered book, and there’s plenty of fun than that!!

A Momentous Revelation in a Small Package

Today I posted the “Hearts Afire” ATC as a valentines greeting on my MySpace page. I suddenly realized that that image encapsulates the look and feel of what I want my “signature style” to convey. A little bit mysterious, strongly graphic, and with a vintage look. The matchbox shrines have this look too, I think. So that’s IT! I have found my signature style!!

Let me start off by saying a great big “Thank you!” to the Collagitation Blog followers. I wanted to send a personal note to each of you (which I will still try to do) but being a novice blogger, what I ended up doing was signing on to follow my own blog—surely that’s a no-no in the blogosphere—because apparently I have more than one Google profile (?) Now I have to figure out how to remove me.

I also found out that the name of my blog as it appears to followers is simply “blog.” How creative is that?? It seems the typography I uploaded in the banner that spells “Collagitation” is an image, as far as the blog engine in concerned, and not a word. Thus, not part of my blog title as I intended. So I’ve had to add the word Collagitation in front of the word blog to get the name to appear as Collagitation blog. Even though it messes up my banner lettering design!

I don’t know who coined the term “Snowmageddon” to describe the winter storms In PA (and NY and DC) but it’s quite accurate, as well as witty. I burned through 2 vacation days because of it. Not that I’m really complaining; any day off my job is a good day! Plus, I must’ve lost a few pounds from all the shoveling. But the best thing about it, of course, was that I got to spend extra time at my drawing table. I wish I could say have a new piece of art to post as a result, but this is not the case. I did finish one ATC, which no one will ever see, and thereby hangs a lesson.

The piece was done for an Artists’ Trading Card exhibit & swap to be held in Vancouver and the theme, of course, is the Winter Olympics. I have to say that although Olympics are intrinsically exciting, they do not bring forth an onslaught of artistic inspiration from me. I struggled to complete the first card, then found I was very unhappy with it. For one thing, visually it was a total departure from my usual vintage-driven style, which I guess was a reflection of my inability to find inspiration in the topic. So why did I even sign on for this project? Well, I was attracted by the idea of exhibiting the ATCs in a gallery in Vancouver, in addition to the usual swap. In the end, I contacted the swap host and withdrew from the project. I decided I don't have time to waste prying artwork out of myself based on a theme that doesn't inspire me.

KC Willis, whose excellent Marketing Mindset online workshop I’m taking, questions the minimal marketing payback of ATC swaps and I see her point. Still, they are another way to get the word out once I open my Collagitation shops. Speaking of which, after dropping the Olympics project, I spent yesterday (Wednesday) designing some small collages that I can offer for sale on Etsy and as printable designs on Café Press. Once I have a bit of inventory, I can finally open my long-planned Collagitation shop.!!! I also started working on a logo banner for the shop, which will definitely be in my “signature style”. I feel much better now! Full steam ahead!